About

♡♡ #cybertwee ♡♡ = digital + cute

cybertwee is in the process of becoming a non-profit organization, and we are building a VR app to serve as our virtual headquarters, a rotating gallery and digital residence space. we are committed to using the app to claim a space for an underrepresented femininity in the new media arts, the tech industry, and online: one that encompasses cuteness, softness, feelings, & prettiness, and includes poc, queer, trans and gender non-conforming new media artists and artist collaborations.

our goal is to encourage gURLs to work in digital mediums like virtual reality, 3d modeling, and coding environments that they may or may not be familiar with, and to create an open-source community for the exchange of self-made tutorials and tips.

the f͞i͠rst ͏ ♡♡cy҉ber͜twee♡̷♡ exhibitio҉n *̴~͢

we’ve teamed up with 22 cybertwee artists and legendary cyberfeminists VNS matrix in creating the HQ’s first art exhibition. with your support, we can continue releasing updates to the app so you can frequently visit the HQ for new immersive experiences.

this juried show is comprised of digital works selected from an online open call displayed in the <̕ <.͡: ̕: ̢ * ♡ c̶yb̧er̛twe̕e ̡he͞adqu͞art҉e̛rs ♡ ҉ *::.. >>. featured works are united by their exploration of themes related to identity and digital technology, but the diversity of styles and approaches reveals that cybertwee is an expansive and slippery genre. their coexistence in this exhibition is both a celebration and a statement:. creative expressions of femininities, psychic realities , and bodily spectra are valid, are deserving of space, and are full of possibility. we are fractured and multifaceted bbs.

Your pledge will help us to:

launch the app all over the world-wide-web for free

make the app available on oculus app store, apple + google play

offer the artists involved an honorarium

continue collaborating with artists to create a series of exhibitions and virtual events that you can visit through your phone.

create a virtual ♡♡ cybertwee ♡♡ library where users can search through cyberfeminist and afrofuturist texts.

start organizing a virtual artist-in-residence program

we're committed to doing all of this with radical transparency. we think everyone involved in the project and all of our backers should know where funds are going. ***click here for more***

we can't do this with out you! please consider pledging for a reward, or donate any amount you'd like*~

~*the rewards

~* cybertwee temporary tattoo chokers, sheet of 3!

sheet of 3 diff chokers, made w/ text characters

~* lenticu̵lar pri͑nt of the cybertwee m̫anifesto

"the singul̥arity is ̒͝dear... ͫf̠̤ar too long havḛ͐ w͒e ᷆succu᷊mb ̖to the ̴îdea ̺that power is lost in th̯͉̄̈e͝ sweĕt and tender... ͨ̄cute is not weak. romantic is not weak. we are f̴ragme̠nted an̪d multi-faceted b̯bs.

lack of emotion is oft favored because success is defined by the ability to be mechanical and efficient but sentimentality, empathy, and being too soft should not be seen as weaknesses.

we see the limitations of corporeality, as solipsists we know that the body is the original prosthesis for operating in this universe, we know the body illusory, we curate our candy. our sucre sickly sweet is intentional. our nectre is not just a lure or a trap for passing flies, but a self indulgent biofeedback mechanism spelled in emoji and gentle selfies."

your intro to the VR world. download our app, place your phone in the front of the headset, and experience the HQ in VR! this headset can be used with all VR and 360 video apps available on app stores.

~* limited-edition crop top or t-shirt designed by texture-artist Becka Saville

"every piece at PAOM is custom made. we print the fabric first and then cut and sew. we believe that by taking fashion slowly we can: a. offer high quality items; b. produce in an environmentally sustainable way; c. (and most importantly) offer our studio employees a living wage and health benefits.

our standard process for printing your designs is called reactive dye digital printing... after the
printing is complete we steam and wash the fabric so dyes penetrate it fully, adhering to fibers beneath
the surface. This is why multiple washes won't compromise the prints on your PAOM objects. only after
the printing process is complete do we assemble each object individually. reactive dye digital printing is environmentally friendly and efficient, and it results in a durable
object - for your long term use and enjoyment."

✧̷͉̖̳̻̹

the ♡♡ cybertwee ♡♡ artists ♡

~*Alexis Anais Avedisian is a graduate student at NYU Steinhardt, researching topics such as social media theory, feminism, and activist internet art. She has worked in communications for MIT's School of Architecture and Planning, at Rhizome as an Editorial Fellow, and is a contributing writer to Art21 Magazine. She tweets @holyurl.

Carolyn Tripp's practice is based in multi-media installation, video, animation, and illustration. Her work has been featured on the CBC's The Exhibitionists, with Interface (Ace Hotel, London, UK), The One Minute Film & Video Festival (Aarau, Switzerland), The Toronto Urban Film Festival, PhattB: The Art Technology Terminal (NYC), Under New Management: Video Store! (Dawson City, Vancouver and others), Xpace Cultural Centre, Trinity Square Video, The Toronto Animated Image Society, 401 Richmond, special editions of the Long Winter event series (Toronto) and The Khyber (Halifax).

~* Corie Denby McGowan has developed a distinctive aesthetic within all areas of her practise re-creating memorising visuals that are presented in a highly exaggerated and grotesque paradigm. Works can only be described as a visual feast of sumptuous, seductive and psychedelic imagery. Responding to identity mechanisms within contemporary culture she questions gender encompassed stereotypes and creates an unashamed celebration of the hyper feminine.

In the Internet age where is the self located, in the body, the internet, or both? My work takes this questions as a basis to poke and prod at the very notion of a stable self, while trying to reconcile this notion that the self can exist in both the no place of the internet, and the every place of the physical realm.

~*Jaana-Kristiina Alakoski is a Swedish, London based artist working with mediums such as performance, Instagram, photography and digital painting. In her work she investigates matters of consciousness, identity, digitality and notions of human collectives.

~* Jasmine Nyende's work revolves around social media and deleted posts, public memory and beauty. She sees her art as a never-ending attempt to take the perfect selfie. She frames the selfie as an accessible mode of critiquing point of view and style in reference to popular culture and camera angles. By relating body politics and media theory, Nyende explores how the Internet influences our process of self definition through power, control and the camera.

~* Jessica Dolence
The background, wall, screen, and monitor are all habitats for my work. I make animated wallpaper that is in nature, sentimental and digitally decorative. When projected and mapped onto a wall, the wallpaper creates an extension of space. I’m interested in how virtual decoration is tied to cyberfeminism. I build from historic design trends and Sea Punk using subtle motion, symbolism, portals, and rich color fields to push into and pull from virtual space.

~* Mya Middleton & Hana Aoake are part of Fresh and Fruity, an all female collective, physical space and social media spectacle based in New Zealand. Fresh and Fruity was co-founded by Hana Aoake and Zach Williams in 2013.

~* Kate Durbin is a Los Angeles, California based writer, digital and performance artist. She is the author of several books of fiction and poetry including E! Entertainment, ABRA, The Ravenous Audience, and five chapbooks. Durbin's work primarily centers around popular culture, gender, and digital media.

~* manuel arturo abreu (b. 1991, Santo Domingo) is a poet and artist from the Bronx. They live in Portland, OR.

~* Maya Ben David is a Toronto-based video and performance artist. Through video she draws attention to moments in animation, film and popular culture that explore simulations of the “real” and sentience through appropriated and nostalgic media. Maya's videos are currently being distributed by Vtape.

~* Miriam Poletti
(b.1991, Milan)
My work focuses on the topics of interpersonal relationships, intimacy and vulnerability with the will to overcome my own social anxiety and to build new forms of community in the digital era.

~* Ragna Rök Jóns RRJ is a transfeminist writer and transmedia artist based in Los Angeles and Reykjavík.

23 year old illustrator and photographer based in the north of England.

~* Reed Hex is a multimedia artist currently pursuing a BFA in new genres at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her performative work and writings explore concepts around care, tenderness and empathy through the creation of temporary emotional space. Exploring intimacy as an act of personal protest and tenderness as power.

~* Sarah Rooney
is a 21-yr-old girl living and working and learning in Chicago, IL ++ online. reframing the Internet in a girly vernacular, i am interested in recollecting and fetishizing lost memories as a means of finding community, reclamation, memorial, and closure. these interests manifest thru #cute #kitsch #tactile explorations between identity, technology, and fiber work.

~* Tobias Williams is a Toronto based artist and educator with an MFA from York University. His work investigates the historic and contemporary relationship between art and technology.

we’ve also teamed up with legendary cyberfeminists VNS Matrix, who wrote the original cyberfeminist manifesto in the 90’s, and will be including their work in the exhibition.

VNS Matrix was an artist collective founded in Adelaide, Australia, in 1991, by Josephine Starrs, Julianne Pierce, Francesca da Rimini and Virginia Barratt. Their work included installations, events, and posters distributed through the Internet, magazines, and billboards. Taking their point of departure in a sexualised and socially provocative relationship between women and technology the works subversively questioned discourses of domination and control in the expanding cyber space.[1] They are credited as being amongst the first artists to use the term cyberfeminism to describe their practice. -Wikipedia

Risks and challenges

violet forest has a graduate degree in art and technology from the school of the art institute of chicago and is a freelance web developer. she will be leading the development of the app. gabriella hileman will oversee the project management and will also be assisting in development. may waver is also onboard to assist with any challenges. If technical difficulties arise, we can seek the mentorship of our community, which includes an extensive network of peers and professionals who work in similar media. due to the nature of working with technology, the completion of the project may take longer than we initially anticipate, but all backers will be kept in the loop if this is the case.

there may also be delays in the distribution of rewards due to the use of outside companies. in this case, we will do our best to reallocate the services to another provider.

all in all, we are excited to make this project our primary focus as a collective!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

͙̱̜̲̣͇͈̬͔͖

receive a ~* ♡͠♡ c̨ybe̢rtwe͟e̴ ͘♡♡ v҉irtua͢l ̧rea̡l̨iţy̴ ͢view̨er *~, designed by Texture Artist Becka Saville, to experience the headquarters in -- fits any smartphone, and will be available for iOS & Android

Pledge $500 or more
About $500

c҉ol̛le͜c͡t͜or's exclusive content includes a desktop version of the HQ as well as original content from the cybertwee collective unique to this release: 3dmodels, gifs, writing, and other digital works.